Monthly Archives: October 2018

Song of the Week – Viva La Vida, Marty Balin

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Ignored           Obscured            Restored

Today’s Song of the Week (SotW) was written by guest contributor Ron Marcus.  This is Ron’s third trip around the track as a SotW author.  Ron is a very knowledgeable musicologist and a mega fan of the late Marty Balin.  In fact, he met Balin and even shared some of his song lyrics with him.

My name is Ron Marcus and I am honored that Tom has asked me to guest contribute a SotW in honor of the late Marty Balin.  Most of you know his history as the founder of Jefferson Airplane and a hitmaker with Jefferson Starship.  In 1965 he formed the Airplane and opened a nightclub in San Francisco called The Matrix.  He hosted all the original San Francisco bands and gave birth to the San Francisco sound that came out of the Haight Ashbury.  Even before Bill Graham, Marty is credited with creating a scene that actually changed the western world and beyond.

His hits with Jefferson Airplane included “It’s No Secret,” “Today,” “Coming Back to Me” and “Volunteers.” With Jefferson Starship he wrote their smash hit “Miracles,” along with “Count on Me,” “St. Charles” and “Runaway.”  His voice became legendary and he is still regarded as one of the greatest singers in rock and roll.

Then a funny thing happened in the 1980s.  Although he had two hits in 1981, — “Hearts” and “Atlanta Lady” — after that he slipped into obscurity.  He no longer could get a record deal and had to rely on small labels to release his catalog of 16 albums as a solo artist.  However, what lies so hidden in these gems are some of the best, heart felt love songs ever recorded. And (sadly) virtually no one has heard them!

Today’s SotW is called “Viva La Vida.”  It is from a 2010 disc called Blue Highway.

Marty Balin – Viva La Vida

It was inspired by the story of Frida Kahlo. In fact, Mary Balin was also an excellent painter and has incredible portraits of the rock stars he shared a stage with.  I chose this song because it presents a sense of optimism and a love of life, music and art. The horn section is especially vibrant. I have heard nearly every song Balin has recorded and I can assure you that none sound remotely like this.

I urge you to check his website at martybalinmusic.com where you can see 10 of his ultra rare CDs and his artwork.  Although often Ignored and Obscured, Marty Balin was BY FAR the most creative and productive of all the original Jefferson Airplane members. His voice, spirit and his Viva La Vida (long live life) will be missed by millions, though only a few has really heard the full extent of his music.

Enjoy… until next week.

Song of the Week – Plastic Hamburgers, Fantastic Negrito

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Ignored           Obscured            Restored

In 2015, Fantastic Negrito (Xavier Amin Dphrepaulezz) won a contest to be the first NPR, undiscovered artist, Tiny Desk performer.  The Oakland based musician was initially signed to Interscope in the ‘90s, but became disillusioned with the record industry and was further sidelined by a car accident that caused serious injury and left him in a coma for several weeks.

Fast forward to 2014 when the socio-political state sparked FN to revive his musical career.  He’s recently released his second album from his second round in “the business,” called Please Don’t Be Dead.

The opening song on the album is “Plastic Hamburgers.”

“Plastic Hamburgers” is a powerful blues track that brings masters like Howlin’ Wolf and Muddy Waters into the 21st century.  I hear a contiguous line from Led Zeppelin to Lenny Kravitz to Jack White.

The lyrics speak to the current American social condition:

Americans pills will wreck and kill
American pills will wreck and kill
Automatic weapon in a twitching hand
The 50-foot wall of addiction, man
Do you, do you understand?

Let’s break out these chains, let’s burn it down

You don’t have to be a genius to understand what he’s getting at!  He told NPR “I wanted to come out swinging. With everything happening in the world, I wanted to take it head on.  Addiction, guns, censorship, overconsumption. I wanted people to feel like this is our song, our rallying cry: Let’s tear down the walls that separate us and face who we really are.”

The music world could use more artists with the courage and integrity to make recordings like this.

Enjoy… until next week.

Ram Jam, Black Betty

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Friend of the remnants and WFUV DJ Evan Davies posted tonight somewhere that he’s never played this fluffy rocker on his show. And now he has.




Song of the Week – Autumn Song, Van Morrison

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Ignored           Obscured            Restored

Back in the early ‘70s I would scour the “cut out” bins for discounted records wherever they were sold.  If you knew what you were doing you could pick up some real bargains – often albums by great artists that were overstocked because they didn’t meet sales expectations, for whatever reason.

I distinctly remember scoring The Great Lost Kinks Album and Van Morrison’s Hard Nose the Highway, both released in 1973.  They are both excellent albums that are considered minor efforts in each artists’ catalog.

Earlier this year, MOJO magazine published an article entitled “20 Unloved Albums… and Why We Love Them.”  Hard Nose… was one of them.  The article points out that upon release the record suffered mostly negative reviews.  The most scathing may have been from Charlie Gillett.  MOJO reports Gillett criticizing Morrison for “’flabby’ lyrics, ‘boring vocal[s]’ and ‘lack of … melodic focus.’”  According to Wikipedia, Robert Christgau rated the album a B-, and Rolling Stone reviewer Dave Marsh called it “a failed sidestep, a compromise between the visionary demands of Morrison’s work and his desire for a broad-based audience” and gave it only one star.

But MOJO also pointed out that Lester Bangs wrote that it had an “entire side of songs about falling leaves.”  I’m not sure if that was meant as a compliment, but it is certainly accurate.  And that leads me to today’s SotW – “Autumn Song.”

“Autumn Song” is my favorite cut from HNtH.  The song is a 10+ minute exercise in autumnal mindfulness.  Close your eyes, clear you mind, and roll with his honied, ecstatic excursion through the simple joys of life.

Little stroll past the house on the hill
Some more coal on the fire will do well
And in a week or two it’ll be Halloween
Set the page and the stage for the scene

Little game the children will play
And as we watch them while time away
Look at me and take my breath away

You can almost see and hear the leaves falling.

Leaves of brown they fall to the ground
And it’s here, over there leaves around
Shut the door, dim the lights and relax
What is more, your desire or the facts

Pitter patter the rain falling down
Little glamor sun coming round
Take a walk when autumn comes to town

Jef Labes’ piano trills and John Platania’s guitar fills perfectly compliment the melody and sentiment of the song.  And, as usual, Van’s singing is superb.  About halfway through Van starts to riff on the lyrics in a sort of stream of consciousness that evolves into a melodic “da da, da da da, dah da-da” then back into the riffing through to the end.

The imagery is so vibrant that you might assume the song was written and recorded in New England.  But the album was recorded at a studio he had built near a home he once owned in Fairfax, California.

Hard Nose the Highway?  Unloved no more.

Enjoy… until next week.

Song of the Week – Black Cloud, Trapeze

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Ignored           Obscured            Restored

Trapeze was a ‘70s British blues rock band that was led by Glenn Hughes (lead vocals, guitar), Mel Galley (guitar, primary songwriter), and Dave Holland (drums).  Aside from the success these musicians had together in Trapeze, each burnished their artistic pedigree with other prominent heavy metal bands – Hughes with Deep Purple and Black Sabbath, Galley with Whitesnake, and Holland with Judas Priest.

To my ear Trapeze sounds more like Free, cousin Bad Company, or maybe Humble Pie, than any of those harder rock bands that the members graduated to.  Take, for instance, today’s SotW – “Black Cloud” — from the second Trapeze album, Medusa (1970).

The song blasts off with a heavy, electric guitar riff, then transitions into the acoustic guitar driven verse.  By the time the chorus comes around the fuzz is back with a cowbell emphasizing every beat.

Hughes delivers an especially soulful performance on “Black Cloud.”  Galley delivers a funky blues rock boogie to drive it.  Drummer Holland holds it all together.  The Trapeze power trio — a very popular format in the late ‘60s/early ‘70s — proves that it could be very powerful and effective.  Though they’re no equivalent to the Jimi Hendrix Experience or Cream, they can run with Mountain or Grand Funk.

Enjoy… until next week.